Israel, U.S. reach secret deal to tackle Iran: report

TEHRAN – Senior officials from the United States and Israel have met secretly in Washington to hammer out a deal on confronting Iran on several fronts, according to Israel’s Channel 10 News.

The closed-door meeting, led by U.S. National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster and his Israeli counterpart Meir Ben-Shabbat, took place at the White House on December 12, and the two sides agreed on forming joint teams to combat Iran in the Middle East region, the Israeli news outlet reported on Thursday.

The two sides signed a document that would translate U.S. President Donald Trump's October speech, when he "decertified" the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and six world powers -- the U.S., the UK, France, China, Russia and Germany.

The joint teams, four in total, would explore different ways to deal with what the Tel Aviv regime refer to as “the Iran threat,” according to Press TV.

According to the report, one of the teams would try to curb Iran's influence in Syria and work to block Tehran’s support for the Lebanese resistant group Hezbollah.

The second team was tasked with conducting diplomatic and intelligence activities to disrupt Iran's nuclear program, while another team would specialize in dealing with the country's ballistic missile work.

Finally, the fourth team would control preparations for any escalation with Hezbollah or Tehran.

The report cited a senior Israeli official as saying that Tel Aviv and Washington “see eye to eye on the trends and processes in the region."

An unknown U.S. National Security Council representative said the deal between Tel Aviv and Washington was an informal “framework” rather than a full-fledged plan.

“Obviously, there was a major strategy that was announced a few months ago, and there have been meetings subsequent to that shaped by that new strategy,” the official added. “And obviously Israel is one of our closest allies.”